Dmitry Babich: No real peace in Ukraine until Kiev changes attitude toward Donbass

Dmitry Babich is a radio host with the Voice of Russia in Moscow. He was interviewed by Press TV about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Why is it so difficult for the Minsk deal to be properly implemented in Ukraine and put an end to the ongoing violence plaguing the restive east of the country?

Babich: I think the main reason is the nature of the regime which has been installed in Kiev as a result of a coup in 2014, the coup supported, openly supported, by the United States and the European Union.

So the rebels in the east of the country have no trust in the Kiev regime and they have very little trust in the European ministers. Let me remind you that these were the German and the French foreign ministers who guaranteed in February 2014 the agreement on the separation of powers between Victor Yanukovych, who was then the legally elected president, and the violent opposition movement called Maidan.

So when Maidan breached the agreement when they violently took hold of the presidential administration and the Rada a few hours after the agreement was signed, the German and the French foreign ministers did not do anything to enforce the agreement that they had guaranteed. This was the same Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, who did it, who signed the guarantees. So the rebels have very little trust in Mr. Steinmeier and as a result the situation drags on and on, because Kiev wants to control the rebel-held regions and in the regions which Kiev already controls and which are populated mostly by Russians there are a lot of repressions against the people who voice opposition to the regime or who participated in the referendum on federalization of Ukraine, the referendum held in spring 2014 and declined by the Ukrainian leadership.

Press TV: And how much legitimacy exists in the accusations that Russia is directly involved in sending troops and weapons to fuel the conflict there in the restive east?

Babich: The problem is that Kiev so far has not been able to produce any real soldiers, Russian soldiers, who had been caught in the fight because in any war, you have POWs, you have defectors. So if indeed there were regular Russian troops, thousands of them as Kiev claims, if there were thousands of Russian troops fighting in the war in Donbass, and the war has been very cruel especially in 2014, then you can always produce the POWs, POWs with their documents, with their arms, with their life stories, with their photos.

So far Kiev just produced a few Russian servicemen who were caught in very mysterious circumstances on the border with Ukraine, usually without documents and it sounds very unconvincing what they say and also let me remind you that the Ukrainian authorities attacked the so-called rebel cities with aviation, with artillery, so it would be very strange if Russia did not try to protect these people, at least by sending weapons, so that they could for example protect themselves from air attacks.        

Press TV: Can we see a ceasefire and peace restored while the Donbass region stays a part of today’s Ukraine?

Babich: I think that there will be no real peace until the Kiev regime changes, changes its attitude to Donbass. Right now the nationalist regime in Kiev, they do want to have Donbass really because that would mean having at least four million pro-Russian citizens inside Ukraine. In the beginning they wanted the territory, now I think the new regime in Kiev they just want to keep the situation tense so that they can get money from the West for leading what they call their war with Russia.

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